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Behind the scenes:

A closer look at the Gifted Gypsy

1 August 13

While we’ve lingered in Western Australia, I’ve had the opportunity to finish some work in the Gifted Gypsy, including sewing curtains, modifying the cabinetry and installing more lights and USB powerpoints. We’ve been parking on a rural property where there’s room to work and tools to borrow, and I’m thankful to improve our tiny home’s condition so it works even better.

I love the size of our bus. At 6-metres-long, our short-wheel-base Coaster fits in most car-parking spaces. With two reversing cameras, I can see what's going on around me and can reverse (slowly) out of the tightest spot.

Inside the Gifted Gypsy, the front is dedicated to our seven seats and the back is our storage/living/kitchen space. I love having the two extra seats, as it means we can bring friends along on our adventures!

A wall of cupboards holds all our belongings and clothes. The girls each have their own cupboard, and although I started out with a cupboard too, I have moved my clothes to the basket on the top shelf.

We have built-in storage for some of our bulky items. We travel with lots of fold-up chairs, a table and even a pop-up tent.

Our tiny home works so well for us because there is a place for everything to go, and we’re not accumulating more stuff. Our purchases are severely limited because we simply do not have room to fit them in, and so we also save the money that would otherwise be spent on acquiring more possessions.

In evaluating the storage needs in a tiny space, I’m thankful that early on I designated a space for our shoes (they’re in a large drawer under the cabinets) and a place for the dirty laundry to go (in a tub at the back of the bus). Having these two sorted does a lot towards keeping the bus tidy.

The girls know where everything belongs which means they can independently get the things they want as well as help put the shopping away.

I love the look of the wicker in the cabinet-fronts, but it hasn't lasted very well as the girls use the front of the cupboards as steps to climb up and get things from the top shelves. In the next year, I hope to modify these cabinet fronts to include a light timber and wicker frame with a built-in toe-hold.

Our back nook is a great space to hang out during the day and is now home to our rats as well. I modified the existing cabinetry (and culled our stored junk) to make a perfect place for our rat cage.

The rats are very comfortable with their home and voluntarily return to their cage if they escape from their mistresses.

At night, the back nook is curtained off and transforms into a separate room where someone can sleep if they don't want to be on the big bed at the front of the bus.

I've hardwired USB ports that take 12-24 volts current, and these are in constant use. All our appliances in the bus use 12 volts, so we rarely run our inverter.

Our toilet system continues to work really well. We also carry minimal water in the bus. Twenty-five litres is enough for us for have at one time, although we carry a spare fifteen litres in the boot for emergencies.

I've installed several more of these LED lights in the last month. They don't use much power and are easy for the girls to reach up and turn on.

Our kitchen space, although tiny, works really well. We have two pump-taps over the sink; one is for water and the other is for a multi-purpose soap.

Since getting the Gifted Gypsy, I've wired in several more circuits to meet our specific needs. All our power comes from our solar cells, which means that we are completely self-reliant and never need to plug in!

Since being on my own, I have had to start doing all the construction and maintenance on my own. Those who knew me as a girl know that I’ve always been extremely independent and self-reliant, but after getting married, I switched. I started deferring a lot of my decision-making and practical skills to David. Now that I don’t have that option, I’ve re-engaged parts of my brain that have been dormant for a long time.

As a single mama travelling in a tiny home, I need to understand a lot of the mechanics of the vehicle as well as the construction and wiring basics. I travel with a small toolkit and know what I need to borrow if I need to do something more complicated. There are always friends with more tools and expertise if I’m out of my depth, and I’m thankful for this lifestyle that forces me into engage in a wider community where I once felt isolated.

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Comments

Love your bus and seeing it makes me miss the road! I love that you are so independent and have shown your girls that women can be handy. I have started doing more ‘manly’ things around the home to show Israel that just because I am a woman doesn’t mean I can’t do something that is usually thought of as a man’s job! We (I) built a guinea pig cage together and I have been doing a lot of renovating chores with him around – while he plays with the nails and screws and brings out his plastic hammer and helps bang in the nails.

What a wonderful update! Oh I’m going to have a lot of questions for you when we meet up re: our solar panels & what we can charge on them. So far I know they run the fridge, and that is all I know! xxx

So proud of you Lauren. Your bus is awesome! And yes, we often rely on menfolk for certain things. But we are amazingly capable when we need to be. I might bump into you in Mullumbimby. I will be just around the corner in Coorabell, minding my friends’ business and her 4 dogs. It will be over the school holidays for those two weeks so not sure if those dates match up. Either way, if I see you, I will give you a big hug. Stay safe my friend. Be well. Love Donna

Wow, Lauren, this post was fascinating! And even though I don’t know you — I’m so proud of you for doing all of this all by yourself, and for taking care of those four sweet souls (well, seven, including the rats) who are along for the ride as well. It must be an overwhelming responsibility at times. I admire you very much for soldiering ahead — and your home is beautiful, too!

I really appreciate how well you explain and describe both how you live (the practical and philosophical) and the places/people you visit. As a family keenly interested in camping both comfortably and without leaving too large a footprint, as well as a family currently living in a tiny temporary situation, it’s both morally supportive as well as hugely informative. You’re completely right about limiting possessions and what that teaches us. Here my family must be careful about how we use our 319 square feet that 5 of us share while we work out the “where” of our recent cross-country relocation. Thanks for the useful tips. :)

I absolutely love your seriously gorgeous bus. I think it’s great that you wire and build things in it. I can do abit of stuff partly because my dad taught me and my partner doesn’t know crap about building, cars, you name it. Anyway my partner and I used to live somewhat similarly but just bought a house last July. But I wasn’t too happy about it so convinced him to move to Indonesia though we are first going to Thailand to check it out. Anyway all the best to you and yours, just found your blog and I like it.

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